Mafia Marriage

XXVIII

The fall season had officially descended upon New York. The ground was covered with red, orange, and yellow leaves, the air was crisp and cool, and the stores were gearing up for major sales. But for Giuliana it meant celebrating her sixth month wedding anniversary, she could hardly believe that she was halfway through her first year of marriage. It had certainly been a rollercoaster of emotions so far, but currently the married couple were working through their problems. Giuliana still was sleeping in one of the guest rooms, while Giovanni occupied the master bedroom. It was probably for the best since Giovanni usually got home well after midnight and was gone before six in the morning. Giuliana had only seen him once in the past week, so she was utilizing all of her time to finish up the renovations for The Atlantic Quarter. She couldn't wait for Giovanni to see the finished product.

While she was looking at a blueprint of the Jersey based casino, her cell phone began ringing. A quick glance told her that it was Laura, she had seen her cousin sporadically since the revelation that she and Vinnie had been in a relationship.

"Hey Laura," Giuliana greeted. "What's up?" She could hear sniffling on the other end and frowned, "Laura what's wrong?"

"Oh Giuliana," her cousin's voice came out as a cross between a whisper and a whimper.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Giuliana was already standing up and grabbing her purse.

"Matteo was in a bad mood today, is there anyway that could I come over? I don't mean to intrude but I don't want to stay here and I don't have anywhere else to go."

"Of course, I'm on my now. Do you need a doctor?" Giuliana was rushing out of the front door, yelling at Cynthia that she would be back, and beckoning for a guard to bring a car around for her to drive. She was sure that Laura did not want a random Graziano guard to know what Matteo had done.

"No I think I'm okay. I'm just scared to stay here if he comes back, sometimes he comes back to finish what he started."

"I'm on my way now," Giuliana said as the phone connected to the car's system. Giovanni had bought her a new white Range Rover, all the while swearing up and down that he had taken Tiffany's Range Rover and sold it back to the dealership. "I didn't bring the guards with me," she reassured her cousin.

"Thank you Giuliana," Laura replied gratefully.

"How are you feeling?" Giuliana questioned as she pulled out of the iron gates and waved at the guards who were no doubt calling her husband.

"I'm pretty sore, he really got me in the ribs. But I was able to clean up the house a little bit."

"I'll help you when I get there," Giuliana said as she passed a car that she deemed was going too slow. "Just stay on the phone, if he comes back I doubt he'll start anything knowing that I can hear everything going on."

"Yeah, I'll do that," Laura said. She was having a hard time focusing and had to sit down from the dizziness.

Giuliana continued asking questions, some pertaining to Laura's current predicament and others were completely random, anything to keep Laura talking and somewhat alert. After what felt like the longest drive of Giuliana's life she finally turned onto Laura's street and parked in front of her house, taking note of the sedan parked across the street. As she rushed up to the seemingly picturesque house, with its white picket fence and well manicured flowerbeds she thought, 'No one would ever guess that this was a house of horrors.' The door swung open before Giuliana could ring the doorbell, and Laura opened it just enough for Giuliana to squeeze through.

"Oh my God," Giuliana gasped as she took in Laura's appearance. Her face was bruised and battered; with her right eye swollen shut, blood coating her mouth and chin, and her lip was split open. Laura's arms were covered in dark, angry bruises, her neck had a grisly ring of red around it, and her clothes were covered in blood, no doubt hers. She was swaying from side to side, trying to keep herself upright.